Nina's Paris

This was really good with a splash of milk. The scent of the dry tea leaves is overtly “apple” – but the flavour is much more mellow. You can taste the black tea, but with a crisp apple taste and very subtle rose as well. The rose was my favourite part. The two compliment each other very well. (p.s: The tin is so elegant!)

I got this tin at a Home Goods store, and it was the only one on the shelf. Thanks to the wonderful people who post on Steepster, I knew that Nina’s Paris teas were generally highly regarded. I saw the description of caramel and vanilla flavors, and snagged it immediately. Definitely my kind of flavored black!

Just brewed a pot of it this morning, and I was NOT disappointed. Creamy-caramel-vanilla-cookie happiness. This could have been enhanced by the evaporated milk I added to it and maybe the tea wouldn’t be as lusciously creamy without it, but – who am I kidding – I’ll always add milk to it.

I’ve been on a bit of an unflavored tea kick for awhile, but had a craving for something sweet and comforting. Surprisingly and delightfully, this completely fit the bill. I’m really satisfied and happy with it. Great as a dessert tea, and for me, great with breakfast. Delicious.

I was lucky to have come across this at HomeGoods. Had never heard of Nina’s, but upon looking to see what a stellar brand it was, went back to get whatever flavors were offered—-so glad I did. Having this tea today, iced, with lunch. I steeped yesterday, 3-4 minutes. I knew when I picked this up that I should want to try it as an iced tea, and boy is it good. I only added a touch of sweetener to the quart I made, but likely doesn’t need any. While steeping, it had a strong honey scent, along with the strawberry, and not too heavy on the vanilla. This will be a summer favorite. I will try it hot, but will likely save especially for iced tea. Very true strawberry flavor.

Second one from Nina’s that I like. I picked this up from Home Goods, and think it lucky to have run across these. I never go for vanilla flavored teas before—-I usually prefer fruity or earthy. This was a good tea however. It does have a slightly acrid/chemical smell, but not so bad—maybe just strong crème brulee. The brewed tea smelled nicely, and much more tame. I tasted first before adding my usual bit of honey. It is a lovely black tea, no bitter, and good crème brulee notes for me. May not be a favorite, but won’t mind finishing my tin.

Love this tea! The smell of the loose tea is overwhelming grapefruit—strong and juicy, but appealing. However, when steeped, it did not match the smell whatsoever, and was very gentle grapefruit to me. Roses? not so much. The black base is smooth. Glad I purchased this based on smell, regardless

I was shuffling stuff and, inevitably, tea stuff around the other day and came across a treasure trove of now aging samples from VariaTEA. Ooops. I had been wondering where those had gotten to.

Rose. A lot of rose. It was only when I peeked at previous comments that I noticed apple too. Sip, sip. Yes, apple—kind of like Granny Smith—if I squint.

Thank you, VariaTEA. Sorry that this and a few others got away from me.

Well, I took one whiff of the dry leaf and thought, “oh-oh, perfumey froo-froo French tea.”
I imagined that it was a cloud of rose and bergamot rising from the leaf and braced myself for something not altogether pleasant.

I used cooled water to prevent an astringent hit and steeped fast. As it was steeping, more rose, and then, something more interesting and complex happened. I poured the lightly steeped tea into my cup and waited a bit for the heat to dissipate. What I thought was bergamot disappeared completely, the rose deepened and settled to a woodier richness with the slightest tinge of tart green apple and possibly a bit of berry. All this was followed by the solid black base, not airily floating by as I had expected, but rather firmly planted.

Yeah, this tea is quite an unexpected surprise. Delightful even.

Thank you, VariaTEA.

Oh this is good..really, really good! The raspberry is raspberry NOT hibiscus and no medicine-like after taste. The flavor makes me think of raspberry jam (maybe its the red currant) . The vanilla compliments the raspberry by giving it a smoothness that makes it easy to forget that this is a black tea and a well blended herbal.
I tried it with a hint of Splenda which brought more of the fruit flavor out, but I probably wasn’t needed.

This is a wonderful dessert tea! A real treat that could take the place of an actual dessert.

Well worth the higher price for this blend.

I just added a dab of creme and… just when I thought it couldn’t get better…wow! So smooth and rich and still a very distinct raspberry flavor.

I can see the 1.7 ounce order being gone by the end of the weekend! It’s so hard for me to find a really great raspberry. I thought I’d found it with Harney’s raspberry but this is so much better!

The price makes it a special treat but it is something I would love to keep on hand. If you are a raspberry lover it’s something you won;t be sorry you tried.

Not as sweet as I expected but still a nice cup of tea. The caramel and vanilla flavors were the first I notice. The dark chocolate blended into the smooth creamy flavor of the brew. This is the first time I’ve tried Nina’s. The product descriptions and reviews on this site had me intrigued and I finally decided to take the plunge and get a 1.7 oz bag of this another another blend.

I am glad I did and maybe I would have rated this higher if I hadn’t tried Harney’s Florence last night OMG that was an amazing dessert tea! Hard to top for sure.

But Je T aime in is a good tea and it’s probably an unfair comparison.

I tired it with and without creme and dab of Splenda. The flavors come through either way. It is a smooth, full bodied tea that I am anxious to try again.

How does one purchase Nina’s teas? I was window-shopping on their website as I drank this, and noticed that there doesn’t seem to be an option to buy online. Are they only available in the shop in Paris? This is good for my no-buy but bad for the part of me that wants to place an order. They have so many teas I’d like more of!

This was one I enjoyed, but probably not enough to order more of (if I figured out a way to place an order, that is). It’s an elegant, sort of delicate tea which seems to be the theme with Nina’s as a brand. The blended black and green tea base is really quite nice – it has the maltiness and body from the black, but it’s tempered with more fresh and delicate notes from the green. Though I’m not a big fan of greens in general, strawberry is one of the flavours which I prefer on a green base. I’m not sure why, it just seems to fit. The strawberry note is most noticeable in small little sips, and it’s a natural sort of strawberry flavour. If you take big gulps it tends to get lost in a general red fruits flavour with the base being more noticeable, particularly the malt. I wouldn’t say the cream was identifiable as an individual note, but the cup definitely has a creamy sort of vibe, and it softens and sweetens the strawberry note. The added flavours become less noticeable as the tea cools.

Thank you VariaTEA for the sample!

Sipdown 81/393.

This sad sap is finally writing a tasting note on this despite having it numerous times already, and after so long too. Tsk tsk. The rose in this is intense! Did rose essential oil get into my tea? The base is astringent in mouthfeel but in regards to flavour, that astringency is mostly covered up by the rose. Apple notes are soft and meek. I wouldn’t buy it again but will enjoy the tea while it’s here. I confess that my mom wanted it for the fancy pink tin, so for that reason alone, it was worth the price.

I was not looking forward to this sipdown, that’s for sure. Need more of this chocolate orange fantasy in the future!

What a delectable chocolate orange tea. More orange than chocolate, plus the base is smooth and not too astringent. My favourite chocolate orange tea to date.

I’ve been drinking orange juice lately (bought it for blueberry tarts which were devoured in a couple days) so especially after that refresher, the pulp-laden orange juice makes this taste like candy. It’s quite sweet in comparison and doesn’t have the bite that zest/peel can. The dry leaf itself doesn’t have that much orange peel in the mix. I’ve had this a few times now and every time I made a big mug of this, out of every 4-5g of tea, I’d maybe see one little piece of dried peel drop into the infuser basket. Sometimes, not always.

The chocolate is on the semi-sweet side. Realistic and not artificial or waxy at all, although I would have liked a little bit more. Overall, I can see myself grabbing up more of this.

Sipdown! The other two Nina’s teas are at my mom’s (Marie Antoinette is technically hers and the tin of Japon was something we’d share) so not sure if I should have them in my virtual cupboard. Maybe I’ll transfer some into some empty tins next time I’m over there because she rarely drinks tea. Hmm.

Nevertheless, I wouldn’t get more of this but it was good. If there’s any Nina’s tea I’d love to reorder, it’s Hepburn. So delicious.

My mom and I enjoyed a cup of Pour Maman earlier this lazy afternoon at the kitchen table. I’ve had it a couple times already but keep failing to log it. The first couple times were more favourable, if memory serves me correctly.

Despite being a blend of black and green tea, it’s easy to please in terms of steeping parameters. I’ve never had the green tea go grossly bitter. It’s light and sparingly like a green tea, but no vegetal, grassy, or floral notes. Meanwhile, the black tea doesn’t take the green tea hostage either. Overall, very light, which allows for the fruits and vanilla to come through.

The vanilla is smooth and not artificial at all. The red fruits are a melange of, well, red fruits, but not an obvious, specific berry. It’s rather vague, like some sweet mixed berry jams are. I’ve been eating a lot of berries as of late, too, seeing that it’s summer, and nothing in here stands out as strawberry, or raspberry, or whatever. I’ll pay extra attention next time, but FWIW, other red fruit French teas seem to go down that route, lending a pleasant, yet convoluted, berry flavour to the blend.

Here’s Hoping Traveling Teabox – Round #5 – Tea #27
I wanted to reach for my creamsicle tea yesterday morning, but I must work on the teabox! So I remembered this one was in there with it’s orange, mandarin and pineapple. I’m guessing the tea labeled ‘Jamais Vu’ was Nina’s? It’s the only one on Steepster. The light brew is fruity, but it’s hard to pick out the orange and the pineapple. I’m mostly tasting mandarin. But I really need a kick from black tea in the morning and this tea is so light. That’s why the creamsicle with the CTC base would be so perfect. No matter how much I love teaboxes, it’s always fun to go back to my tea collection and have my favorites. :D

I actually finished all I had of this. I went to order more and send some to my daughter (who loves spearmint) and the Nina’s US site was flipping gone! I sent Laurent a message on Facebook and no response. Oh well. So this brings my cupboard number down to half a billion or so. The cupboard here is woefully outdated and the thought of doing inventory gives me hives.

Happy New Year!

I think this came from the monthly TTB earlier this year. I thought I’d reviewed this when I first got it, but apparently not. I just finished what I had of it. I enjoyed it. It was a mild green that was buttery and sweet. It was hard to tell what flavors came from the tea itself and what came from the added flavoring. I would definitely drink this again.

Last night I finished it off by mixing it with some White Peony. It made it lighter and softer with a hint of flowers. It was an enjoyable way to finish this tea.

i feel like this is a tea that i SHOULD like..but it was 100% NOPE when i tried to drink it. Something about the way the flavours were blending together made this undrinkable for me. blech.

I found this by surprise at Musee de l’Orangerie in Paris. Which BTW, everyone should go and see. It is a really small museum of impressionist and post-impressionist modern art. It is quite expensive to get in, compared to the not too much you get to look at, 9 euros. But, it houses Monet’s Waterlillies (AKA Nympheas). They are absolutely amazing to just sit and gaze at. Even if you are not an impressionist fan, I am not, but these are just a beautiful art peices.

Anyway, there is a little café/gift shop and they sell this tea! I totally stumbled on it by accident. I can’t find any history on this tea on any of the Nina’s Paris websites, US or EU, but it appears that this tea would have been created specifically for these paintings. As any one that has followed me for a while, you all know I am a big lover of Nina’s Paris. I was kind of disappointed I did not know about it before, this is something I totally would have picked up from Nina’s. It feels like it is this secret tea that only a select few know about. Kind of like Fete de Versailles (which is super delish).

Anyway, enough gushing and moving on to the tea. The ingredients list Sri Lankan black tea, apricot flavours and cornflowers.

The tea smells strongly of black tea with apricot perfume/scent. The tea brews up dark red-brown. It has the same apricot perfume/scent. The tea tastes like a moderate to strong bold black tea. There is a flavour of apricot. It is initially quite natural tasting but then if does fade into a bit of artificial flavour. It is also quite strong. The corn flowers make the tea taste quite thick but they are also quite strong in flavour. But I am wondering if that is just due to what got scooped up to brew.

I rarely do a second steep but I was too lazy to do a “new” steep, so I re-steeped this one. The second steep is actually better the first. The flavours just all blend together better.

I quite like apricot teas and have been on a quest to find the best black tea with apricot. Many of them come off just so artificial, or bitter, or the flavour doesn’t blend well with the tea. I think this blend does a good job.

This is a good blend. Not my absolute Nina’s favourite but I am still quite happy to have found it and to have tried it. Totally makes me feel like I am a member of the secret tea blend society :P

I liked this one a lot more than I expected to. The light base, which I think might have been a Ceylon, was very pleasant, and the rose was at just the right level—not too strong, like it is in so many blends. There were undertones of apple, with a hint of sourness, to round things out. This is one I’ll consider stocking up on once my stash is under control (if that day ever comes).

This is much more to my liking. It has a nice sweet, strawberry flavor. The vanilla in this one is much smoother and less bitter than what’s in Je t’Aime. It’s not my favorite blend but I’ve enjoyed this cup. I always love trying new teas! A belated thank you to JustJames for sending me a sample!

Thank you to JustJames for sending me this sample! There’s something about the vanilla in this tea that’s off-putting. I can’t put my finger on why. It could be the age. I’ve had this sample sitting in my cupboard for a while. It somehow got shoved to the back and accidentally overlooked. I’m not really a fan of this one. There’s just something about it that doesn’t agree with me. It’s always fun to try new things though even if they don’t turn out to be new favorites.